My Life'z Work

Liam, the gatekeeper, was going to resume his duty at the gate when he was rounded up at the lobby and all entrances were sealed. After ushering in the police, he had helped the manager regain control of himself after the police came in. ‘Now what!’ he grumbled.
“Has any of your employees left yet?” asked Inspector Raul.
“No, it’s just after six and… the shift ends at eight.” The manager answered, gasping.
“None?”
“Uh, Sir… Anne just left. Good Friday…” Sheila intervened, whispering.
“Oh I see. Well then, I think we have everyone else – call up all the house guests, get me your guest register, employee locker keys… anyone who might have seen something, anything that helps.” Raoul barked orders before proceeding to Room A412. “Paul, fill me in”.
Paul, Raoul’s junior, spoke hurriedly tried to fit in as much as he could while half running to keep his pace with Raoul “Sir the body’s been stabbed several times, nearly castrated. And he was lying naked on the floor on its back when the team arrived. No money has been stolen, or so it seems.”
“Poor chap had been rather brutally done in… hmm. So who is in charge of housekeeping, you said?” Raoul asked.
“ Its..umm… I sent Anne up in there right before she left.” The Manager put in.
“Anne? The one who? Oh! ” Raoul turned on his heel. “I have a feeling about this one. You said he was naked? ”
‘Raoul and his feelings’ thought Paul, nodding his head.
“Get me contents to Anne’s locker, fingerprints, dna samples, address, Bio. Get started on that. I think I may just take a stroll. You think you can manage? ” Raoul walked away without waiting for an answer.
****
“hello, Detective Raoul”
“Sir, Its Paul. I think we have a fingerprint match here, with Anne I mean.”
“That could be because she was cleaning.”
“We found one on the body.”
“Oh. In any case I am here at her house for questioning.”
“But sir, it… I mean she could be… ”
“Yes I know Paul, you keep backup ready just in case. It is a little more than a mile from the hotel. I will call if I need you guys.”
Raoul saw the lights off at the house and wondered if the girl had turned fugitive. The gardens were untended to and the house had an unoccupied look. He then peeped inside from the dusty windows. He could not see anything at first, but then he heard.
“Please make her understand, Jesus. Please…”
“Tell her, I am doing this so her evil heart be cleansed, so she can go to heaven… tell her! We’ll both we away from this bad, bad world together… oh mother! “
Then Raoul saw.
‘Holy mother of God!’ Raoul decided to call Paul.
******
It was relatively easy then on. When Anne heard the police warnings, she froze, dropping the knife down. All those men entering at once seemed to her mind as men rushing to devour her… she screamed...
“There is not one murder but two, Inspector Raoul?” the correspondent from Daily Mirror asked.
“Yes, you are right. Mr. Justin, a guest of the Lake Emerald hotel was found murdered, that led us to another dead body being found. Ms. Anne is charged with both of these murders and will be tried in court of law.”
“Ms. Anne has a previous crime record.”
“Yes, she was booked seven years ago for attempt to murder of three men, all of whom tried to sexually abuse her. She was sent to juvenile prison and to psychological ward for trauma and anger management issues. She was let off easily pleading temporary insanity and self defense.”
“Any motive yet found for these murders?”
“None, but we can only guess. Mr. Justin was found in a compromising position, leading us to believe his sexual advances triggered off the murder. Anger seems to be the motive in both cases.”
“And the second victim? You said you watched her being stabbed by Anne. Couldn’t she be saved, since the police got here moments later….”
“The second victim was Anne’s Mother. Yes I watched her being stabbed. But no, she couldn’t have been saved, though we tried.”
Raoul Paused. “She was dead weeks ago.”

Anne wiped her tears when she reached the gate. She had walked home; she needed to, even though she felt too tired…

But now she was back – to her refuge, her Jesus. She walked straight past Mammy to her room where Jesus waited. She bowed her head to seek peace, guidance. A few candles were still lit on the shelf where the image of Jesus lay – these were the only source of illumination in the room. The shelf was scarred with markings of the hundreds of candles Anna lit. The walls were bare and the furniture, minimal. She glared at the bed in sudden rage. This is where they made her tainted, dirty. Her ‘uncles’. Hah!

Looking back, Anna realized she had been barely ten, when they started arriving. She was used to doing all the chores at home by that time so mammy wouldn’t have to, after she came home from work. No matter how well she scrubbed the floor, or did the dishes, Anne got a thrashing for one thing or another, nonetheless. Anything to please Mammy, she thought. But mammy never was. ‘Obviously her sole, meager income proved to be too less for her’ thought Anna. ‘That’s when Mammy must have decided not to live in poverty, when she had a daughter to live off by.’

‘That’s when my childhood ended.’

Tears streamed down her face as she thought of the nights she dreaded coming home. The giant drunks, the druggists, all came one night after another. She pleaded, squirmed and shouted. She cried. She begged. But they laughed. Years after years. Now all the housework and Jesus became her refuge. She waited for salvation, but she had become dirty, she knew. Between the days of household chores and those nights… she dropped out of school. How could she go anyway?

Then one day there were three of them. She boiled over. All her hidden courage came to surface and she took her stand – to make mommy understand. It was not possible any longer for her to keep quite. She was so angry…. Then something terrible happened. She had had to live away from Mammy - it was a dark period; she dismissed it, not wanting to think about it. Yes, it took time, but Mammy understood now. “You understood Mammy, didn’t you?” Anna asked loudly.

So Anna did the only thing for her Mammy’s needs that she could. She took up a housekeeping job in a hotel. All was going well until … Anna suddenly got up and went outside to the sitting area to look her Mammy up. Mammy hadn’t replied to her, neither had she made a sound. She saw her Mammy still sitting in the chair she knit in.

“Why aren’t you answering Mammy? See your precious bread winner is back!” Mammy didn’t look up. “So I am late, I know. Look at me!” she screamed. “Oh! You hate me don’t you? You know what I hate? I hate people like you who.... don’t understand… who just …”

Anna took the knife from the fruit bowl and plunged it into mammy. Once… twice… thrice…

‘Please make her understand, Jesus. Please…’ she kept saying to herself.

-To be continued…

Part 1

‘Mammy will be mad if I am late… oh so mad!’ she quickly bowed to the image of the messiah in her small locker. Gathering her things, Anne quickly rushed out of the humid, sultry room.

Today of all days, she was going to be late.

Anne went about her work in the lobby as usual, checking her watch while at it. Try as she may, she knew she would not reach home on time tonight. Mammy had especially wanted her to reach home early, for today was Good Friday. Both Anne and her Mammy had fasted all day - the thought of Mammy hungry, waiting sent a chill down Anna’s spine, and inadvertently she started to work faster. The thought of slipping away struck her. ‘It’s not like I’ll be missed around here’ she thought ‘just mere housekeeping staff…’

“One minute, sir!” Anne said. She gave the room a final look over. ‘A last minute booking’ as the supervisor had put it and Anne complied. She dragged her feet towards the door. ‘Maybe the guest came in earlier than planned…hmmph!’

She felt the cool appraisal in the guest’s eyes as she continued towards the parlor to finish up. He continued towards the shower as if her plead to wait outside were inconsequential. She absolutely hated it when that happened. Then again, so was her hurry to get home, she didn’t even realize when he came up behind her and…

She cried to cry out but her cries were stifled – he was a strong man.

She pleaded and pleaded…

----

On her way out of the hotel, Anna sobbed. There was nothing else she could do – she needed the job, for her sake and Mammy’s. She had been through this kind of behavior but it had never got so out of hand… She tried to collect her thoughts, but finally on stepping out, she broke all restraint and cried. She knew there was no use reporting, she did the only thing she could do – took her things, and ran.

Just as Liam watched Anna walked away and around the bend from his position at the gate, his ears alerted to the sound of a police siren in the distance. He dismissed it just as something he was accustomed to in this neighborhood. But soon enough that familiar siren loomed closer until he watched the police car enter the Hotel gates, and his manager came rushing out, in utter shock, to meet it.

“There’s been a murder!” the sound echoed from within the halls.

Liam felt himself getting pushed aside by the enormous wave of people that all wanted to rush out, and suddenly, there was panic all around.

-To be continued…